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Homemade Flour Tortillas

Our family eats quite a bit of Spanish/Mexican/Latin cuisine in our home. In fact, during a typical month, we use a minimum of one jar of cumin. Trader Joe's brand of cumin is a favorite of ours. You really cannot get more frugal than eating beans, rice, and veggies on a regular basis. Centuries of modest-living folks, all over the world, subsided on simple dishes of beans and rice, with produce from their gardens.

Even though all varieties of tortillas are available in the supermarket, the freshest, preservative-free, and tastiest tortillas are found byusing a bit of elbow grease to make your own. Flour tortillas are made with a few simple ingredients and you do not need to have a tortilla press. You can roll your own tortillas out with a standard rolling pin. Ingredients: (Makes 8 tortillas)2 cups of flour (we use unbleached flour; you can use other varieties)1.5 teaspoon baking powder1 teaspoon of sea salt2 teaspoon of vegetable oil (I use olive)¾ cup of warm water or milk

Directions:Mix flour, baking powder, salt, and oil in your favorite mixing bowl.Slowly stir in warm milk or water. The liquid should be warm but not hot.

Knead on floured surface for approx two minutes. The dough should be firm and soft.Cover for 20 minutes and let the dough rest. Cook up your other goodies you plan to add to your yummy tortillas.

Divide the dough into 8 sections after dough rested.Roll out with your favorite rolling pin.You can roll the tortillas thick or thin, depending upon your preference.If you have not used a rolling pin in a while, expect to think this is a smallworkout on your arms, especially if you make a few batches.We usually sprinkle a bit of flour for each ball we roll.Pick up the tortilla as you roll it out, flip it over, roll again until it is the size you want for your skillet.

Heat up your dry nonstick skillet until hot. I use the setting between medium and hot on my stovetop. You do not want it too hot, but you need it to be hot enough to cook it quickly enough.Cook in dry pan on each side for 20-30 seconds. Put each finished one in a tortilla warmer or pocket of foil to keep warm.

You can use any non-stick skillet, by my personal favorite is cast iron. A cast iron skillet heats up nicely, and it browns the tortillas with the perfect little brown spots.

If you have never made your own homemade flour tortillas before, you should try it out! You can make them for pennies a tortilla, and they are by far the best tortillas you will evereat. I will warn you that once you start making them yourself, you will never want to buy them in the store again. You may need to try it out and practice once. Don't be discouraged if you burn a tortilla, if your heat is too high. If you cook it too long on lower heat, it may be stiff. Just practice for a minute with the heat setting, and it will not take you very long at all before you are creating soft and warm tortillas. Your family will give you lots of hugs and sing your praises.